A little bit of everything

This is my third menu plan for the year! I am on track for menu planning again! I know, this is very exclamatory, but I have been really slacking on the menus, and suffering for it. I have missed the ease of a menu already in place, and made abortive attempts to reboot the habit for months with very little success. Now, though, I seem to be doing it, and I am super happy about that.

Another trick I used this week is creating a menu at the beginning of the week before, and adding things as they occur to me. Rather than sitting down on Sunday to create a menu from scratch, I add a meal here and there as it occurs to me that I would like to have a particular dish soon. Then I don’t have to really think about it all at once, and I am quickly jotting things down as I think of them.

Also, I am planning a few easy nights, so I don’t burn out. Sometimes just eating at home is good enough, saving me time and money.

I used to be so good about menu planning. Heck, probably half of this blog is menu plans. Everything goes better when I have a menu, because I don’t have to think about what to make every day. I just come home and make dinner, and even if I am a bit tempted to eat out and spend money, I can usually quash that urge pretty quickly when I know what we are going to eat at home. I only plan to make things I like, after all. As a start to my goals for the year, I am getting back to that planning.

My plan is to try to keep it simple, not taking too much time with the plans. I have been known to spend hours on a menu plan, looking through Pinterest, reading old menus, trying to get the absolute best menu possible, as if that is a thing. I am putting a limit of 30 minutes on planning, and realizing that anything homemade is a good meal. This planning is supposed to be saving me time, after all, not taking up my whole weekend.

Sunday: Spanish Cod – I didn’t make this Friday as planned, so I am moving it to today

One of my goals for 2015 is to get back to menu planning, and I want to dive right in now, rather than waiting for Sunday, when I usually do my weekly planning. The kids are at their dad’s, so this isn’t a super-detailed plan, but at least I have a plan to go with.

I started to write a post today about goal setting, and how I am actually pretty good about that. I set goals, or I would never get anything done. I was patting myself on the back for getting some stuff done, thanks to my awesome goal setting. Then I did a quick search on my own blog to see what I have said about goals before, and discovered my goals for 2014. Out of 7 goals, I did one of them, and that one was play more games with my kids. Well, with the boy at least; the girl is 17 and too busy to hang out with us.

So, I am working on a new list of goals for this year, and I need to add a habit to actually check in on the goals this time. I am working on some detailed lists and timelines, but I am sharing some high level goals here now. Some of my detailed goals seem embarrassing or too personal, but the high level goals are good for organizing anyway.

Continue to craft often Learn to use the sewing machine. Crochet blankets. Make whatever I can around the house (health and beauty supplies, art for the walls, whatever else I can make before I buy). I love making things, and producing rather than consuming.

Blog more often Make menu plans. Document projects. Review movies and books. Think about how I am living my life.

Get my house organized Declutter. Get a cleaning routine. Declutter. Try not to buy new things. Declutter. Re-line the kitchen cabinets. Declutter. We have so many things in our house, it is hard to put them away; books and craft supplies are the worst categories, but there are many other things I could get rid of, too.

Do fun things with my kids Take them to movies. Go to museums. Go to the board gaming convention. Play more games at home. These kids are growing up and will be leaving me all too often–especially that girl, who is a junior in high school this year!

Get my finances under control Eat out less. Plan spending better. Pay off 401K loans. Pay off credit cards. My finances aren’t utter chaos–I contribute to my 401K, I have (very small) college funds for the kids, I pay my bills–but I am tired of feeling broke when I make good money.

Develop a plan to travel more So many places to go! Save more money for trips. Find cheaper ways to go. Plan some shorter, closer trips. I love to travel, but it is so expensive; I won’t get it in unless I plan for it.

Also, one bonus geek goal: Watch more scifi series on Netflix I need to finish Fringe and Deep Space Nine, plus watch all of Star Trek: Voyager and Babylon 5. I seriously hope those are on Netflix. I know I have more scifi series to watch on there, but this is enough to start with, ;).

Summer is such a lazy time for me. I have been cooking, but without a real plan. My kids are going back to school next Wednesday, though, so I need to get back to planning ahead, or we will either eat out too much or starve.

Sunday: Homemade baked hot wings (we saw Guardians of the Galaxy, which was awesome by the way, so I just made wings and the kids had snacks at the movie)

It is spring cleaning time. My kids are not happy with me, because I made a schedule with tasks for every day. I don’t know what they are complaining about, though, because they get a break when they go to their dad’s house! I have tasks every single day!

Mostly I am trying to get rid of as many things as possible. We are in no danger of being on the show Hoarders, but we do have way too many things. I am a big contributor to this problem, I know. I have so much trouble getting rid of books and yarn. I am making an effort with the books–I have a pile of books that I have never read that I have to give one more chance, and if I don’t like them, I have to get rid of them. I am trying to use up at least some of the yarn I have before buying more. These are fairly long-term projects, though.

For the rest of the house, we are getting rid of whatever we can. Clothes purged. Old toys donated. Papers recycled. It is helping, some. We need to get rid of a lot more, though. At least I can remove one decision from my days: I have a dinner plan.

I have been bad at menu planning lately, and I am suffering from it. I have still been cooking most nights, but it was a much more fraught experience, with lots of indecision and angst about how I could have made a better choice. I know that there are people who can look at what they have in the house and come up with a fantastic meal on the spot, but I am not really one of them. I mean, I can do it occasionally, but it is not a skill I can rely on.

I am diving back into the menu planning this week. My kids are relieved–I didn’t know they paid so much attention to the menu plans, but my daughter commented on how weird it has been not having a menu the other day. We’ve been eating late (see: indecision), and we ate out a bit more than normal. We didn’t go out a lot, but we did go to a restaurant one Wednesday for dinner, and my daughter thought that was just weird – “Who goes out to dinner on a Wednesday?” she asked. I guess I am teaching them good things about eating at home after all.